Cairo, January 28
The police and demonstrators fought running battles on the streets of Cairo on Friday in a fourth day of unprecedented protests by tens of thousands of Egyptians demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule.

Security forces fired rubber bullets, teargas and water cannon at protesters who hurled stones back at them and shouted "Down, Down, Hosni Mubarak," witnesses said.

Anti-government activists had promised a "Day of Wrath" after Friday prayers in the country's mosques and urged thousands of people to join in the demonstrations.

The police blanketed Cairo and blocked social networking communications in an effort to stifle the protests but the violence broke out soon after prayers finished.

The protesters, many of them young Egyptians embittered by unemployment, poverty, corruption and the lack of freedom under Mubarak, appear to be loosely organised with no figurehead.

Prominent activist Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Laureate who has called for an end to Mubarak's rule, arrived in Egypt on Thursday. But after he joined the prayers at a mosque in the Giza area, the police blocked him from leaving the area. — Reuters